Letter: Cook family says, Thanks you’

Thursday

May 10, 2007 at 12:01 AMMay 10, 2007 at 10:21 AM

This letter of thanks to the Hamilton-Wenham community cannot be long enough.

To the editor:

This letter of thanks to the Hamilton-Wenham community cannot be long enough. As most of the North Shore now knows from prior articles, our son Matt was hit in the head by a line drive during batting practice at HWRHS six weeks ago. After spending a week at Children’s Hospital and almost four weeks at Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital, he is now finishing his recovery from home with outpatient services.

During this ordeal, friends, family and strangers came to our aid. A meal schedule was organized; gift certificates were donated; cards, letters, flowers, fruit baskets and gifts were sent. We were able to call on friends on a moment’s notice to help with rides, play dates or sleepovers for our two younger daughters. Our children were fortunate enough to receive two sets of donated over-stuffed Easter baskets, as we had forgotten the holiday altogether. Friends, parents, teammates, coaches, teachers and the athletic director all made the trip to Boston to visit Matt. Many showed their support by sponsoring Tom as he ran his first marathon on the Alzheimer’s Charity team in memory of Matt’s grandmother. For all of these things and more, we are eternally grateful.

We are also incredibly thankful that we live so close to some of the best hospitals in the world, which we can so easily take for granted. Without realizing the severity of Matt’s injury, we took him to a local hospital that evening back in March. After a CT scan, the emergency room doctor came into the room and said, “Your son has a fractured skull and bleeding in the brain. He needs to be at Children’s Hospital. If this were my son, that’s where I would want him to be.” The trauma team was prepared and waiting for Matt’s arrival and he received top-notch care at both Children’s and Spaulding. As we lay awake that first night in the ICU, it was difficult to sleep due to the frequent activity outside Matt’s room on the rooftop where the helipad was located. As tragic as Matt’s injury was, the next arrival was just as bad or worse.

Whether it was a doctor, nurse, therapist, tutor or administrator, each individual was passionate about what he or she does for a living. If you are considering a charitable donation at any time, we would urge you to consider either of these two fine institutions that brought our son home to us.

We may disagree about school budgets, housing bylaws or political candidates, but one thing we can all agree on — we live in a great community where people really care about one another and we’re proud to say that we live here.